Design

Laurie Louis, owner of Laurie Louis Designs a custom paper and goods company located in Indian Land, South Carolina, is a stationery designer who leans on Southern style to create universal designs for every taste. Laurie started her design business and after a long career at ESPN and has made it her full-time job. While her initial work was for the wedding industry, her business has grown to a lifestyle brand and includes nautical, beach and classic themes.

While her initial work was for the wedding industry, her business has grown to a lifestyle brand and includes nautical, beach and classic themes. Laurie’s website sells a combination of paper goods and custom gifts online and Laurie Louis Designs will be branching out into specialty boutiques in 2018.

Growing up, when Laurie’s mom and her friends hosted an event, they made sure that everything matched from the invitations to the table cloths and napkins. Today, she’s carrying on that tradition and helping others create magical events starting with custom stationary to match their theme from beginning to end. I recently attended an intimate dinner party Laurie hosted to showcase her work and discuss her design style. This dinner party was no exception to her entertaining rule — red tablecloths, blue lanterns to light our meals accented with beautiful yellow sunflowers and catering from local company H&M.

Each design is carefully thought out, with Laurie handling all of the design work and the majority of her printing. If there are items she can’t personally produce out of her design studio, she uses a trusted small printing business in Alabama to handle her client orders, knowing they have the same expectations regarding quality and customer satisfaction.

I asked Laurie if she worked with thermal and letterpress stationery and she told me she’d love to branch out in the future, but she has to test and work with everything until it meets her high standards for craftsmanship.

As my son heads into his senior year of high school, I’m already in the planning stages for his graduation party. I’ll be planning on designing custom invitations and gifts with Laurie to fete him before he flies the nest for college.

Disclosure: I attended an event for Laurie Louis Designs and was given a small gift as a dinner guest.

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My husband and I sat down over the weekend to discuss our plans for decorating our house. What I have is essentially a blank canvas — all white walls that are 10 feet in height. After listening to some podcasts, and laughing ourselves silly over the suggested budgets, we realized that any collection, whether from an artist or box store, we’ll hang what we like. We’re the ones who have to live with what we have hanging on our walls and that is what is most important.

I’ve been combing the internet, hitting up thrift stores (there are amazing gems found in them!) and walking the aisles trying to figure out what I want to see. As I shared in my previous post on walls, we’re looking to add bold color, but we have to love it. I have a small collection of Haitian art and metalwork, so the colors will blend and harmonize.

I want to add this piece titled “End of Summer” to my kitchen. The end of summer signals the start of a change — school starts back, the days grow shorter, and we start preparing for winter. My end of summer always culminates with me gleaning the last of the tomatoes for canning n

My husband is from the Washington, DC, area and this would be a great addition so we can pay homage to his hometown.

Of course, this beautiful photo print would have to go in my bedroom.

There’s certainly a lot to think about in this process. Designing a home that represents our tastes (which can be wildly different) is proving to be a big challenge. My husband is going to read this post and say “Lisa, you’re overthinking it.” I’d rather overthink it than it be something we both can’t live with together.

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When we bought our house, we left the walls and ceilings white. Our reasoning behind this is so we can play with color throughout our home. Our decor is an eclectic blend featuring my husband’s love of clean, modern design, while paying homage to my southern roots. As such, the walls are an empty canvas right now, which has started my blank wall project. It’s time that I start looking for, or creating pieces that I’ll love and use in my home.

These are a few I have my eye on — bold statement pieces featuring bright colors, powerful imagery, and a touch of whimsy, is what drew me to them.

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I’m a list-making, paper planner kind of gal. I’ve tried them all multiple times and the planner I keep coming back to is the Day Designer® by Whitney English. Like English, I struggled to find a planner that fit my life, and apart from designing my own, was looking for something that was not only functional, but took my busy life as business owner, parent and OCD list-maker into consideration.

From the daily page layout for my schedule and list to a section to express gratitude, she has thought of it all. Based on a grid, the Day Designer® is part to-do list, part organizer. I have plenty of room on my daily pages, as well as monthly pages to do future planning. There are sections for year-long goal planning, notes, as well a section to include my 12 month vision. My goals and vision for the future are never far away, but not glaring at me, so I can work on what’s important.

The Day Designer® released new styles for mid-year today. While I use the flagship January – December black and white stripe, I was so excited to see these coming out for mid-year that I had to share them. I’ll be quite honest, they’re enough to make me turn my head and consider buying a mid-year planner, but I’ll stick to my standard and wait to see if the new designs will be out this fall when I place my order for my next Day Designer®.

I’ve included many of the new covers featured by Day Designer® to ooh and ahh over. Which one is your favorite?

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. I love my Day Designer® and use it every day. There are, however, affiliate links in case you want to purchase your own Day Designer®.

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Six years ago today Haiti was leveled with a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake. More than 160,000 were killed, 1.5 million displaced and 300,000 buildings destroyed*. Even now, scars of the tragedy still remain, as Port au Prince is still pockmarked by half-destoryed buildings and living conditions worse than before the quake.

The already weak infrastructure of this country was more or less obliterated. Aid came in droves, but very little of it reached the actual citizens. Today, the NGO’s have pulled out and creditors have stopped investing. Haiti is at a developmental impasse and more economically fragile than before.

As I walk through my house and look at my home decor and peek in my jewelry box at the items from Haiti, given to me by one of my best friends from one of her many philanthropic trips since the earthquake, I think of the Haitian people. Haiti is rich in the arts and despite being the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, metal artisans, papier-mâché artisans, and skilled crafts people are anxious to work and earn a living to support their families.

Imagine for a moment that you lived in Haiti. You have the desire to work. You have the creative ability, but you have no job. No way to earn a living or feed your family. Can you imagine the devastation you would feel? Every time I slip on a paper bead bracelet, or look at one of the many handcrafted items decorating my home, I think of their loss, their struggle, their heartache, and their profound resilience.

That’s why today, I’m writing about Macy’s Heart of Haiti. Time and time again, the commitment Macy’s made shortly after the earthquake six years ago has made me a loyal fan of the Macy’s brand and the Macy’s Heart of Haiti line of handcrafted goods. It was a bold decision to carry a line of handcrafted goods made by Haiti’s rich artist community and offer the products up for sale to customers who still picture New York City grandeur when shopping at Macy’s.

Macy’s Heart of Haiti

Macy’s Heart of Haiti has been giving economic support to Haitian artisans ever since the devastating earthquake hit six years ago. Shortly after the earthquake, Macy’s began carrying this product line featuring an array of beautiful handmade goods crafted by artisans in Haiti. The country of Haiti is rich in the arts despite being the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. An estimated 400,000 artisans (out of 10 million people living in Haiti) rely on their handcrafted goods as a source of income. These metal artisans, papier-mâché artisans, and skilled crafts people are anxious to work and earn a living to support their families.

Does the American shopper appreciate handmade artisan items made by Haitians? The answer is a resounding yes, as Macy’s Heart of Haiti continues to thrive. To date over 550 artists make their livelihood by creating goods for sale at Macy’s. While other aid organizations have come and gone, Macy’s has remained, making a commitment to the artists and providing proof that American shoppers appreciate gifts that make a difference.

My newest addition is from the Heart of Haiti line of metal baskets made in the town of Croix-des-Bouquets by acclaimed metal artisans who have practiced this technique for years. The sales of these handcrafted bowls allow the artisans to feed their families, send their children to school and better support their extended families. Artisans forge these bowls out of recycled oil barrels, pounding out intricate designs, creating beautful handcrafted goods while honoring their artisanal heritage.

This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

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Meet Lisa

Lisa Frame is an over-achieving Southern gal with a knack for Pinterest and making people laugh. She writes about life, food, culture and travel. Lisa is a very amateur photographer, voracious reader, wanna-be neat freak, and closeted crafter.